Episode 174
Standing Out on LinkedIn Isn't Actually That Hard (Here's How)
Want to stand out on LinkedIn without resorting to gimmicks? In this episode, Michelle J Raymond shares a simple, practical framework to help B2B marketers discover what makes them different and why it matters.
Key moments in this episode -
00:00 - Why being different matters on LinkedIn
01:30 - The mistake most brands make
03:00 – Why blending in costs you opportunities
05:00 – 5 questions to find your different
13:30 – Updating your LinkedIn profile
16:00 – Final tips to own your difference
CONNECT WITH MICHELLE J RAYMOND
- Michelle J Raymond on LinkedIn
- Book a free intro call
- https://socialmediaforb2bgrowthpodcast.com/
- B2B Growth Co newsletter
Today's episode is sponsored by Metricool. Make sure to register for a FREE Metricool account today. Use Code MICHELLE30 to try any Premium Plan FREE for 30 days. https://i.mtr.cool/NEDXVZ
Transcript
Most of us were taught that being different was a bad thing, but on LinkedIn
Speaker:it's a secret to winning business.
Speaker:So in today's episode, let's talk about finding your different.
Speaker:G'Day everyone.
Speaker:I'm Coach Michelle J Raymond, your trusted advisor for building your
Speaker:brand and your business on LinkedIn.
Speaker:In this week's episode, we're gonna be talking about standing
Speaker:out on LinkedIn, and for some of you that is gonna make you cringe.
Speaker:For others, you might be tempted to switch podcasts.
Speaker:Please don't do that.
Speaker:Stick around because I promise you this is the secret to success on LinkedIn.
Speaker:This is how we grow our businesses.
Speaker:And the thing is, this has been playing around on my mind.
Speaker:I've been grappling with this myself, and it all started when I was getting
Speaker:my presentation ready for Uplift Live and Social Media Marketing World.
Speaker:And there's a slide in there where I challenged the audience to dare to be
Speaker:different and I didn't realise that would be the slide that would really
Speaker:capture the attention of people.
Speaker:That pretty much most of the feedback that's been coming through, it's all been
Speaker:about that slide, which is really crazy.
Speaker:I challenge them to dare to be different with their company pages.
Speaker:I've been doing the same with myself, like struggling with what makes me different.
Speaker:Why am I any different to any of the other thousands of LinkedIn trainers are
Speaker:out there, and why should you pick me?
Speaker:Why would anyone wanna work with me over some of my competitors?
Speaker:And it's a really important question and one that I have answered in
Speaker:the past, but I'm looking at it again through a fresh set of eyes.
Speaker:Before we go into how you can figure out what makes you stand out, I don't wanna
Speaker:skip over the part where I appreciate that this is really difficult for some people.
Speaker:We are taught don't rock the boat, don't stand out.
Speaker:It can be cultural.
Speaker:I was working with my Swedish clients and telling them, yeah, we're gonna
Speaker:rewrite your LinkedIn profile and show the industry how you stand out.
Speaker:And then I learned that culturally that's not what they do.
Speaker:Which was a really interesting thing for me to learn.
Speaker:Here in Australia, we call it the Tall Poppy Syndrome.
Speaker:If I look back to me growing up as a young girl who had a short haircut, always,
Speaker:then I often got the, you look like a boy.
Speaker:And it's something that has, plagued me throughout my life, having
Speaker:these types of conversations.
Speaker:Being different doesn't always equate to being special,
Speaker:unique, and positive things.
Speaker:You may have your own version of this.
Speaker:In fact, I would go as far as saying that everybody has their own version
Speaker:of why they don't wanna be different.
Speaker:But the problem is when we play it safe and blend in on LinkedIn, then
Speaker:we miss out on opportunities, and that is why it's really important.
Speaker:A special distinction here is I'm not asking you to be the loudest.
Speaker:I'm not asking you to be the craziest.
Speaker:I'm not even asking you to go full extrovert.
Speaker:There are many other ways that we can do it, and in today's episode, I'm gonna
Speaker:step you through this and I'm gonna give you a simple and practical framework to
Speaker:follow so you can discover your different.
Speaker:So if that sounds good to you, let's dive in.
Speaker:Why does being different even matter at all?
Speaker:The fact is on LinkedIn with over a billion members, there
Speaker:are lots of good experts.
Speaker:There are lots of people with lots of experience.
Speaker:We are spoiled for choice.
Speaker:When people are on the platform, remember they are scrolling
Speaker:that home feed super fast.
Speaker:And if we are trying to get the attention of B2B buyers, we have
Speaker:to give them a reason to notice us.
Speaker:Otherwise people keep on scrolling and that's a bad thing.
Speaker:That is how opportunities disappear.
Speaker:For those of you who create content for brands through the company
Speaker:page, it is no different for you.
Speaker:I know that when I go and do company page audits with page admins, the first
Speaker:thing that I do is have a look at the industry, go to the key competitors,
Speaker:and nine times outta ten I'm gonna say the content looks exactly the same.
Speaker:It might have different branding colours, but at the end of the day,
Speaker:you all talk about the same stuff in the same way, using the same tone,
Speaker:and everybody is on the same level.
Speaker:Standing out is not just pay attention to me.
Speaker:Standing out is about how can you have a place in that viewer's brain
Speaker:for the next time when they want to recall you, they can recall the
Speaker:right person or the right business.
Speaker:That is why we are doing this.
Speaker:For those of you who are going, you know what?
Speaker:I don't really know what makes me different.
Speaker:I get it.
Speaker:I think it's hard for us to discover these things ourselves.
Speaker:After this quick word from our podcast sponsors Metricool, I'm gonna share
Speaker:the five questions that you can use to discover what makes you different.
Speaker:Let's start with question number one, and question number one is, what do
Speaker:people consistently compliment me on?
Speaker:Think about it.
Speaker:What do you often receive compliments on when you are working with clients.
Speaker:What are the words that people come back to you and say,?
Speaker:One of the cheats way to discover what this is go to your LinkedIn
Speaker:profile and have a look at the recommendations and see is there
Speaker:a common theme that comes through?
Speaker:When I look at mine, there are words like energy, high energy.
Speaker:Michelle always delivers with lots of excitement and
Speaker:enthusiasm, and that's contagious.
Speaker:That comes up in a lot of my recommendations.
Speaker:There's also a theme where people say, I break down complex ideas into easy to
Speaker:understand and practical applications.
Speaker:That came across multiple different recommendations that I've received.
Speaker:If you don't have any recommendations on LinkedIn, send out requests and ask people
Speaker:that you've worked with to leave you one.
Speaker:Or if you've got testimonials on your website, exactly the same process.
Speaker:Go and have a look and see is there a recurring theme.
Speaker:If you download these from LinkedIn, you can get your archive
Speaker:and all of your recommendations.
Speaker:You could put that into ChatGPT and ask it to look for these common themes.
Speaker:Let it do the work for you.
Speaker:This is one of the cool ways that we can use ChatGPT.
Speaker:Understanding what people constantly compliment you on also allows you
Speaker:to get insights into what part of your job you're really good at.
Speaker:And quite often it's gonna line up with the part of your
Speaker:job that you love the most.
Speaker:So go back, take a look and see if you can answer question one.
Speaker:What do people consistently compliment me on?
Speaker:Let's move to question two.
Speaker:Where do I break the rules in my industry without even thinking about it?
Speaker:I'll say it again.
Speaker:Where do I break the rules in my industry without even thinking about it?
Speaker:Oh, this is probably my favorite one.
Speaker:'cause I think this is a big part of what makes me different and this
Speaker:is how I stood out originally when everybody else said, don't worry about
Speaker:company pages and I was like, whoa, you can't cut off 50% of LinkedIn.
Speaker:And so this is a big piece of going against what most people
Speaker:would teach through their training.
Speaker:I talk about the Power of Two.
Speaker:How do you get your company brand and personal brands of either yourself
Speaker:or your employees working together?
Speaker:And that's despite most people out on the platform saying it's a waste of time.
Speaker:Now, it's absolutely not.
Speaker:You as a listener to this podcast, know how passionate I am.
Speaker:But in your industry, you will have your version of this as well.
Speaker:And so I want you to think where is it that you break the so-called rules that
Speaker:are out there in your industry without even thinking about it, because you just
Speaker:believe in this so strongly that it is a part of your makeup, it's a part of
Speaker:what you do, and you're not out there just to break a rule for the sake of it.
Speaker:It's just who you are.
Speaker:So a really powerful question to ask.
Speaker:Question number three is.
Speaker:What do I believe deeply that others in my field often ignore or disagree with?
Speaker:When I was answering these questions for myself and thinking about what do
Speaker:I disagree with others in the industry who offer potentially similar services.
Speaker:The big one that stands out is I absolutely disagree with anyone that
Speaker:promotes automation, engagement pods or solutions that are similar to that.
Speaker:Like I am here and I will die on that hill to really make sure that people
Speaker:know that I don't stand for cheating, trying to get around things, growth
Speaker:hacks, anything along those lines.
Speaker:That's been coming up for me.
Speaker:In fact, it drives me so much that my tagline that I discovered, my new tagline,
Speaker:which is been something I've been working on, I reckon 18 months, trying to find the
Speaker:right words, is now B2B Growth, No Hacks.
Speaker:And it was amazing to discover this how I could succinctly talk about what
Speaker:I do and what makes me different in just four words like that is crazy.
Speaker:So what else do you disagree with with those in your industry?
Speaker:Let's have a look at question four.
Speaker:If my ideal client was choosing between me and five others, what
Speaker:reason would they have to pick me?
Speaker:I'll say it again.
Speaker:If my ideal client was choosing between me and five others, what
Speaker:reason would they have to pick me?
Speaker:Avoid the generic.
Speaker:It's time to really do the work.
Speaker:Sit down and make time and space for this to figure out what
Speaker:really makes you different.
Speaker:And this is harder than you think.
Speaker:This is one that took some time to sit there and think, what is it?
Speaker:Coming back to my unique approach to LinkedIn, the Power of Two business
Speaker:brands and personal brands together.
Speaker:That is something that nobody else talks about.
Speaker:That makes me uniquely me.
Speaker:Having Company Pages and personal brands together.
Speaker:Coming back again to some of that experience in B2B sales and now B2B
Speaker:marketing and joining those two together.
Speaker:Most people you'll discover come from one side or the other, or maybe
Speaker:they come from a HR background.
Speaker:A lot of LinkedIn trainers came from the career development space.
Speaker:Now, that's not me.
Speaker:My entire focus is about how do you use LinkedIn to grow your B2B.
Speaker:It is my piece of the puzzle that I just love.
Speaker:What is it that really would give other people a reason to pick you?
Speaker:We're gonna go onto number five.
Speaker:What's one personal trait that you bring into your work that most others don't?
Speaker:I'll say it again.
Speaker:What's one personal trait that you bring into your work that most others don't?
Speaker:I would have to say I bring my heart and empathy.
Speaker:That is my personal traits that I think I bring into this more
Speaker:than anyone else in my industry.
Speaker:I genuinely care that other people are growing their businesses.
Speaker:I am here to have a real impact because it's like this for me listeners.
Speaker:The more people that grow their business.
Speaker:The more people that they employ.
Speaker:When you are employed, you have money.
Speaker:When you have money, you have choices, and hopefully you make better choices
Speaker:and people are happier, healthier.
Speaker:I wanna live in the best community that I possibly can.
Speaker:And by community, I don't mean just here locally.
Speaker:To me, I'm mean the whole world.
Speaker:Money brings people choices.
Speaker:So if you wanna know why I care about helping other people grow their business.
Speaker:That's what it is for me, and that's why I show up on LinkedIn.
Speaker:I do what I do.
Speaker:I'm generous with my time.
Speaker:I'm generous with the things that I give away to others to help them grow.
Speaker:My YouTube channel, my podcasts, books, like all of these kinds of things are a
Speaker:reflection of the way my personal trait of empathy and care for others shows
Speaker:up and makes me better at what I do.
Speaker:So what is the one personal trait that you bring to your work that most others don't?
Speaker:They are the five questions listeners that I use to help me get clarity
Speaker:around what makes me different.
Speaker:Notice how, as you answer those five questions, none of them said, what
Speaker:crazy stuff are you gonna do to make people pay attention to you on LinkedIn?
Speaker:On the flip side, all of those answers are what makes you unique and different.
Speaker:Once we have the gold, it's time to go across to your LinkedIn profile
Speaker:and update it with these insights, and we'll do that after this short break.
Speaker:It's one thing to get all of these gold nuggets and understand what makes us
Speaker:unique and different to our competitors.
Speaker:But now it's time to take a look at your LinkedIn profile, or
Speaker:for those of you doing it for a company page, the same will apply.
Speaker:What kinds of places can you update with these amazing insights?
Speaker:Your LinkedIn banner is one of them.
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:Take the insights and think, how can I use this as my billboard to share
Speaker:these insights with my audience?
Speaker:So if you had to pick five words to describe what makes you
Speaker:different and unique compared to your competitors, what five would
Speaker:you use based on these insights?
Speaker:If you run out of room there, good news is you should come down and
Speaker:update your LinkedIn headline.
Speaker:That's the part that's just underneath your photo.
Speaker:Add some of these words that others have used or you have discovered you
Speaker:would like to use about yourself.
Speaker:Make sure that they're in that headline because it follows you everywhere.
Speaker:When we're offering insights about what makes us unique, we've got
Speaker:other areas like our Featured section and our About section.
Speaker:It is worth spending time on your LinkedIn profile to update these areas.
Speaker:So again, cover image, headline, Featured section About section.
Speaker:They're a good place to start.
Speaker:And for those of you who don't have recommendations on your LinkedIn profile.
Speaker:You've got some homework.
Speaker:I want you to get two to five current recommendations on your profile.
Speaker:You might wanna do this first, so you've got the insights from those people writing
Speaker:recommendations along with the work that you've done to answer the five questions,
Speaker:and that will just level up your insights.
Speaker:As promised, I've given you a simple and practical way to get to the bottom of
Speaker:what makes you uniquely different, how you can stand out on LinkedIn and notice
Speaker:none of it was about doing crazy stuff.
Speaker:Oversharing your personal life, pointless selfies, algorithm
Speaker:hacks, nothing along those lines.
Speaker:You don't have to go crazy to get noticed.
Speaker:But you also need to find out a way to distinguish
Speaker:yourself from your competitors.
Speaker:This work often isn't easy work.
Speaker:If you are somebody that discovers while you go through this, Hey,
Speaker:actually I need some help, then make sure you reach out and talk to me.
Speaker:I have services like Power Hours or rewriting your LinkedIn profile that I
Speaker:can help you with this kind of thing.
Speaker:I work with all kinds of businesses that are in the B2B space, especially if
Speaker:you are trying to grow using LinkedIn.
Speaker:So if you're getting stuck, don't just stay stuck.
Speaker:Reach out and get help.
Speaker:As we wrap up today's episode, this is a reminder that I love hearing from you
Speaker:listeners, if you are doing this work and having a breakthrough, reach out
Speaker:make sure we're connected on LinkedIn.
Speaker:Let me know that you're a listener to this podcast and how it's impacted
Speaker:you and your business growth.
Speaker:Until next week, cheers.
